Page:The Conquest of Mexico Volume 1.djvu/487

 inferring a similar stage of civilisation in the two nations. One may be surprised, however, to find a greater profusion of the precious metals in the barren isle of Ithaca than in Mexico. But the poet's fancy was a richer mine than either, than either.

Page 85 (7).—Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva España, lib. 6, cap. 22. Amidst some excellent advice of a parent to his son, on his general deportment, we find the latter punctiliously enjoined not to take his seat at the board till he has washed his face and hands, and not to leave it till he has repeated the same thing, and cleansed his teeth. The directions are given with a precision worthy of an Asiatic. "Al principio de la comida labarte has las manos y la boca, y donde te juntares con otros á comer, no te sientes luego; mas antes tomarás el agua y la jicara para que se laven los otros, y echarles hás agua á los manos, y despues de esto, cojerás lo que se ha caido por el suelo y barrerás el lugar de la comida, y tambien despues de comer lavarás et las manos y la boca, y limpiarás los dientes."—Ibid., loc. cit.

Page 86 (1).—Rel. d'un gent., ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 306.—Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva España, lib. 4, cap. 37.—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 13, cap. 23.—Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. p. 227. The Aztecs used to smoke after dinner, to prepare for the siesta, in which they indulged themselves as regularly as an old Castilian. Tobacco in Mexican yetl is derived from a Haytien word, tabaco. The natives of Hispaniola, being the first with whom the Spaniards had much intercourse, have supplied Europe with the names of several important plants. Tobacco, in some form or other, was used by almost all the tribes of the American continent, from the North-west coast to Patagonia. (See M'Culloch, Researches, pp. 91-94.) Its manifold virtues, both social and medicinal, are profusely panegyrised by Hernandez, in his Hist. Plantarum, lib. 2, cap. 109.

Page 86 (2).—This noble bird was introduced into Europe from Mexico. The Spaniards called it gallopavo, from its resemblance to the peacock.—See Rel. d'un gent., ap. Ramusio (tom iii. fol. 306); also Oviedo (Rel. Sumaria, cap. 38), the earliest naturalist who gives an account of the bird, which he saw, soon after the Conquest, in the West Indies, whither it had been brought, as he says, from New Spain. The Europeans, however, soon lost sight of its origin, and the name "turkey" intimated the popular belief of its Eastern origin. Several eminent writers have maintained its Asiatic or African descent; but they could not impose on the sagacious and better instructed Buffon. (See Histoire Naturelle, Art. Dindon.) The Spaniards saw immense numbers of turkeys in the domesticated state, on their arrival in Mexico, where they were more common than any other poultry. They were found wild, not only in New Spain, but all along the continent, in the less frequented places, from the North-western territory of the United States to Panamá. The wild turkey is larger, more beautiful, and every way an incomparably finer bird, than the tame. Franklin, with some point, as well as pleasantry, insists on his preference to the bald eagle, as the national emblem. (See his Works, vol. x. p. 63, in Sparkes's excellent edition.) Interesting notices of the history and habits of the wild turkey may be found in the Ornithology both of Buonaparte and of that enthusiastic lover of nature, Audubon, vox Meleagris, Gallopavo.

Page 86 (3).—Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva España, lib. 4, cap. 37; lib. 8, cap. 13; lib. 9, cap. 10-14.—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 13, cap. 23.—Rel. d'un gent., ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 306. Father Sahagun has gone into many particulars of the Aztec cuisine, and the mode of preparing sundry savoury messes, making, all together, no despicable contribution to the noble science of gastronomy.

Page 87 (1).—The froth, delicately flavoured with spices and some other ingredients, was taken cold by itself. It had the consistency almost of a solid; and the "Anonymous Conqueror" is very careful to inculcate the importance of "opening the mouth wide, in order to facilitate deglutition, that the foam may dissolve gradually, and descend imperceptibly, as it were, into the stomach." It was so nutritious, that a single cup of it was enough to sustain a man through the longest day's march. (Fol. 306.) The old soldier discusses the beverage con amore.